The Movie
An American scholar, David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) moves to rural England with his pretty, free-spirited wife, seeking peace and quiet for him to work on his book, but also to avoid the social upheaval on campuses back home. He's promptly introduced to the quick violence and the barely-there police presence in this town, while the audience is shown the nasty nature of the locals. A nosy, lascivious, unchivalrous, troublemaking lot they are, several of them skulking about his home, taking their sweet time completing various odd jobs.
Life becomes increasingly tense and unpleasant, but for the most part he's willing to live and let live, until the night he brings home a mentally unstable man (David Warner) who has been accused of mistreating a young girl. The situation escalates toward a now-famous third act in which the frustratingly passive David finally takes a stand, defending his home against a drunken, gun-toting posse out for blood.
Forty years later, Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs (based on the book The Siege of Trencher's Farm by Gordon M. Williams) maintains much of its visceral power for its unflinching depiction of rape and for its stylized bloodshed. Alternately re-edited or banned outright, it serves up harsh dramatic subject matter that earns well its R-rating or worse.
This new Blu-ray carries the Unrated cut of Straw Dogs, five minutes longer than the original 1971 R-rated version.
The Picture
The 1.85:1 Straw Dogs is awash in pinks and browns, and Hoffman's face shows a pasty, likely made-up hue. Blacks meanwhile can be extremely harsh and unrealistic in several scenes. The image is grainy certainly, with a bit of visible film damage, but not as noisy as expected, even in troublesome shots of nighttime fog, benefiting from the extremely high bitrate, typically approaching the coveted 40-megabits-per-second mark.
The Sound
Restraint is evident in this track, perhaps out of respect for the late, great Peckinpah's work, to the point that even this 5.1-channel remix still feels like the original mono. It's extremely front-heavy, the surround elements quite faint, with almost randomly added directionality, or crowd noise, or a dog barking. Jerry Fielding's musical score extends very quietly into the rears
Trebles are weak despite the high resolution of the DTS-HD Master Audio format. Raised voices can sound strained, while soft voices can sometimes be hard to make out.
The Extras
Whereas the 2004 MGM DVD had no extras whatsoever, this Blu-ray brings the theatrical trailer and three TV commercials of varying length, all in standard definition. It's a far cry from the two-disc Criterion Collection edition of Straw Dogs which was fairly loaded with goodies.
Final Thoughts
Straw Dogs explores what it means to be a man in changing times, as relevant today as it was four decades ago. Its Blu-ray is not close to demo quality in either audio or video, and the extras are minimal, but those curious to check out the original before catching the remake in theaters would do well with a rental.
Product Details
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